


First Class

by clexylexy



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Modern AU, No Bending, One Shot, asami doesn't really fit in either, asami thinks it's cute she's trying to fit in, i love these two, korra should not be in first class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21582928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clexylexy/pseuds/clexylexy
Summary: Korra and Asami wind up sitting next to each other on a plane to Ba Sing Se.Korra doesn’t know how to sit still. Asami doesn’t know how to keep up. Chaos ensues.
Relationships: Korrasami, korra x asami
Comments: 9
Kudos: 387





	First Class

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)

Asami Sato is sick and tired of things going wrong at Future Industries.

She is currently seated in first class on a plane—she looks up from her phone long enough to make sure she got on the  _ right  _ plane—texting her assistant as they deal with a server crash back at the office.  _ Every time  _ Asami tries to leave for something important, like this business trip to Ba Sing Se, something goes wrong.

It’s starting to get a little old, honestly.

She’s been texting her assistant for over an hour now. She feels like a zombie; she’s running on very little sleep, her feet dragged all the way from the car to where she’s sitting now, and she’s pretty sure she accidentally packed her Keurig this morning. 

Oh, she cannot  _ wait  _ to put her phone into airplane mode. Let them deal with the server crash on their own. Asami isn’t the  _ only  _ one who knows how to use a computer. Hell, most of her employees were hired  _ because  _ of their engineering and computer skills! Why are they acting like a bunch of grandmas who don’t know how to switch the channel on the TV?

She holds in a frustrated grunt.

“Excuse me?”

Asami lifts her head from her phone, looking to the woman seated beside her. She definitely hasn’t looked at her much since they began boarding less than twenty minutes ago. Honestly, she wasn’t aware anyone even  _ was  _ sitting beside her. She scolds herself on her lack of observantness. She’s usually quite the opposite.

_ Stupid server crash… _

The woman beside her is dressed a little… comfortably for someone flying first class. Asami herself is dressed in a red and black pantsuit with matching heels and red lipstick. She reeks business  _ and  _ class. But this woman… is in sweatpants and a muscle-t.

She’s very attractive, Asami will admit. Her eyes are a nice blue that rivals the ocean. Her hair is dark and bobbed, and frames her face nicely. And, not to mention, she has  _ very  _ muscular arms. She sits slouched over, with one leg extended and the other tucked up on the chair beneath her. Asami admires her preference for comfort. Everybody else seated in first class is dressed similarly to herself; professional, and business-like.

Asami is a little envious. She wishes  _ she  _ could wear sweatpants.

“Yes?” Asami says finally, after a long pause.

“I’ve never flown… first class before,” The woman tells her hesitantly.  _ I never would have guessed _ , Asami thinks, “Are there rules?”

Asami almost laughs. Her brows furrow and she smiles, eyes scanning the woman’s face. She looks completely serious. Asami finds it adorable, “No, we have the same obligations as regular seating.”

“Oh. Right,” She says, “Okay, dope. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And… exactly what are the obligations of regular seating?”

Asami looks at her in confusion, “What?”

“Nevermind!” The woman is quick to say, “That was a dumb question. Of  _ course  _ I know what the obligations are.” 

Asami gets the feeling she doesn’t.

A short time later, the plane begins approaching the runway. The woman beside her seems a little extra ecstatic. She sits up straight and turns her full attention to the window beside her. Asami glances out as they begin to pick up speed, tucking her phone away to ignore for the rest of the flight.

She almost looks away when she sees the look of wonder on the woman’s face as the plane enters the sky, zooming upwards and into the clouds.

_ Cute. _

-

After the initial takeoff, Asami glances over to see the woman pulling out her phone and a pair of earbuds. She plugs them in and hits play, blasting the music so loud Asami can hear it even over the plane engines. She lets out a breathy chuckle and grabs a book from her carry-on, opening it up to her place and continuing on reading.

Asami makes it through three chapters before she gets bored and puts her book away. She  _ thought  _ it would be able to keep her attention, but… maybe not.

She fiddles her thumbs in her lap, tapping her leg. She notices after a moment that she has fallen into the beat of the music she can still hear blaring in the woman’s ears beside her. Her hands drum on her lap to the beat, and she bobs her head along to the instrumentals. She can’t make out the lyrics, but it sounds like something she would enjoy. Subconsciously, she leans her body closer so she can hear better.

A song or two later, the woman seems to notice. Wordlessly, she offers her left earbud over to Asami. With a blush, Asami accepts.

They sit quietly for awhile, appreciating the music together.

-

“I spy with my little eye,” Asami startles when the woman’s voice interrupts her previously dead train of thought, “Something… silver.”

“What?” Asami asks, looking at her in confusion. She blinks, processing her words, then looks around, “Uh…”

She starts at the front, eyeing everything she sees that’s silver and begins eliminating the obvious choices. There’s a metallic lining down the middle of the roof. A door handle. A cart filled with aluminum cans of various drinks. A pocket folder in front of every seat with detailed safety procedures… and more. Asami tries to put herself into the brain of this woman she knows nothing about. What would she pick to try and stump Asami?

_ Why am I taking this so seriously?  _ Asami rolls her eyes to herself.

She spots something on one of the flight attendants that stands out to her, “Her name tag?”

The woman looks to her in surprise, “Dang. Okay. Your turn.”

“I spy with my little eye,” Asami glances around.  _ This is so strange _ , she thinks to herself as she finalizes her selection, “Something blue.”

“The sky. Too easy,” The woman says, “Try again.”

“Actually,” Asami smirks, “It  _ wasn’t  _ the sky.  _ You  _ try again.”

“Wait, really?” The woman perks up in her seat, now sitting criss-cross and straightening her spine to get a better view, “Sorry, uh… the bathroom sign?”

“No.”

“The drink menu?”

“Nope.”

“The… fasten seatbelts light?”

“No.”

“Uh…” The woman looks flustered, “I give up. What was it?”

“Your phone case.”

She narrows her eyes at Asami, then looks down to the phone in her hand. Slowly, she turns  _ back  _ to Asami, this time with a sneaky smile on her face, “Good one. I spy something green.”

Asami scans the room, then looks back to the woman with a knowing smile. She lowers her voice, “The stems to the flowers on that woman’s ridiculous blouse,” She nods her head in the direction of the woman sitting adjacent to them on the other side of the aisle.

“You’re very good at this game. Can you read minds?”

“Maybe.”

“Oh, yeah?” The woman raises a brow, smirking. She lifts her chin, “What shape am I thinking of right now?”

“Hm…” Asami plays along, touching her pointer and middle fingers to her temple and closing her eyes, appearing to be in deep thought, “A yellow… triangle.”

“Wrong!” She cheers, “It was a green pentagonal dodecahedron, actually.”

“That would have been my  _ next  _ guess,” Asami says playfully, waving her hand. The woman laughs. Her stomach flutters with something foreign at the sound.

“I’m Korra,” The woman finally introduces herself, offering a hand over.

“Asami,” She accepts, shaking Korra’s hand politely. They smile at one another. They’re quiet as the song changes, and they both look away at the same time, turning their eyes to the front of the plane. Neither of their smiles leave their faces.

“I love this song,” Korra mumbles. Asami nods her head in agreement.

“Me too.”

-

The flight attendants handed out packages of peanuts a short while ago, and Asami had been watching Korra toss hers up in the air and try to catch them in her mouth for over ten minutes now. She misses a majority of the time.

Asami eats hers quietly, taking a sip of complimentary champagne. Korra looks over to her as she sets her drink down, a mischievous look in her eyes. Asami shrinks back a little, “I don’t like that look.”

“Think fast!” Korra says suddenly, launching one of her peanuts into the air towards Asami. Asami barely has a chance to blink before it comes crashing down, hitting her forehead. It falls to the floor and rolls out of sight. 

Asami raises her brows at Korra.

“Try again!” Korra says, this time giving Asami a moment to prepare. The ladies sitting next to them look at them funny, but Asami decides she doesn’t care in the slightest. She sits up, getting in a ready position and opening her mouth slightly. Korra smiles before doing a count-down, “One… two… three!”

She tosses it up, Asami’s eyes following it as it makes its way down. She manages to catch it, chewing in victory as she smiles cheekily at Korra.

“Nice one!” Korra compliments, “Rapid fire round!”

Asami’s eyes widen in horror as Korra begins to toss peanut after peanut. Only about half make it into Asami’s mouth, the rest wind up on the floor. A very angry, very entitled looking flight attendant comes stomping over to them. His blonde hair flops with every step, “Ladies, excuse me! If you do not stop making such a mess we are  _ going  _ to have to move you down to the lower class seats. You are disturbing our other first class patrons.”

“Sorry!” Korra says, getting up from her seat, “I’ll clean them up—”

“No,” He says, calming down, “ _ I’ll _ do it. Just don’t do this again.”

“Yes, sir,” Korra salutes, falling back against the seat rather hard. She puffs out a breath and squints at Asami, “I thought you said there were no rules…”

“Well, I didn’t say  _ that _ , I just said that there wasn’t anything beyond what you may have been used to in the lower class seating,” Asami shrugs.

“Then why did you let me do that?”

“Be honest, Korra. You would have done it anyway,” Asami smiles knowingly. Korra grins, then looks out the window. 

“I’ve never flown before.”

“Really? Not even once?” Asami is surprised. It clicks then that  _ that’s  _ why she didn’t know proper plane edicate. 

“I never really had the money. Even when I moved to Republic City from the South, I hitched a ride on a boat. But it’s  _ so cool  _ to be this high up,” Korra says in a dreamy voice, looking out the window with a look of amazement clouding her features.

“So what changed?”

“Huh?”

“Why travel by plane now?”

“My friends moved to Ba Sing Se when they found out they had family there,” She says, “Mako and Bolin have been my closest friends for a long time now. And flying was the quickest option to go and visit them, so. Here I am.”

“Why first class?”

“Oh!” Korra laughs fully, “That was an accident.”

“Accident?” Asami asks incredulously, “How do you accidentally pay for a first class ticket?”

“Well, I play for the Republic City Rangers—”

“You  _ do? _ ” Asami leans a little closer, scanning Korra’s face carefully, “Wait a second… Korra? Korra  _ Waters? _ ” Asami is a  _ big  _ soccer fan, and she’s kept a close eye on the Rangers these past few months. Frankly, she’s embarrassed she didn’t recognize her.

“That’s me,” Korra says as though it’s nothing, “Anyway, I had my manager book the flight. Apparently, she bought first class without my knowing. I guess she just assumed that’s—”

“Hang on,” Asami cuts her off, “I’m still trying to process. I’m a big fan of the Rangers. Your goal last game was  _ epic _ , I mean,” Asami rambles, “The way you dodged that defender? That took some  _ serious  _ footwork.”

“You know soccer?” Korra asks, surprised, “Sorry if that was offensive… I just didn’t expect Asami Sato to follow soccer. Like  _ actually _ follow it.”

Asami doesn’t remember telling Korra her last name. Korra must see it in her face, because she then admits:

“Oh! I’m a fan, too. Your work with Future Industries has blown my mind. You’re remarkable.”

“I’m—” Asami stutters, looking at Korra with different eyes, “You’re not what I expected.”

“Neither are you.”

-

“Who’s your favorite player?” 

Asami, nearly half asleep, jumps at the sound of Korra’s voice. They had talked about Future Industries and the Rangers for awhile, but then they fell back into their comfortable silence and adjusted to the new knowledge they had of one another. 

“Uh…” Asami blushes when she finds Korra looking at her with an innocent curiosity, “Opal.”

“You’re lying.”

“What? No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m not!”

“Then why the fiddling?”

“Fiddling? What fiddling?”

“That fiddling! Right there! With your hands!”

“What’s wrong with the fiddling?”

“You’re nervous!”

“I don’t fiddle when I’m nervous!”

“The fiddling just got worse.”

“Okay! Okay,” Asami laughs, her cheeks redder than ever, “I  _ was  _ lying…  _ you’re  _ my favorite player.”

“I knew it,” Korra says smugly, “You don’t fangirl about someone’s footwork if they’re not your favorite.”

“Opal could be my favorite, too! She has good footwork!” Asami tries to defend herself, but Korra isn’t buying it.

“You don’t talk about a girl’s footwork the way  _ you  _ did without them being your favorite player, so,” Korra says in a playfully cocky manner.

“Why do you care so much, huh?” Asami tries to regain a little of her pride by teasing Korra.

“Because! I’m… You’re… I don’t know,” Korra’s face heats up, and it’s Asami’s turn to smirk.

“M-hm.”

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“ _ That _ .”

“I don’t know what ‘that’ is, Korra.”

“Yes you do!”

“You were teasing me first.”

“See, you  _ did  _ know!”

They both stare at one another for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Asami swears the woman across the aisle is ready to tear their heads off. It just makes her laugh harder.

-

Asami has found it in herself to open her book up again. She reads a chapter or two, takes a sip of her drink, then reads a little more. It goes on like that for awhile. Korra has changed her playlist up and put something more hard-rock on, but Asami doesn’t mind. 

She has noticed that Korra can’t seem to sit still for very long. She’s constantly shifting in her seat, tapping things, looking through her bag and coming up with nothing, and leaning towards the window to view the scenery below. 

“You alright?” Asami asks when Korra moves for the millionth time, extending her legs in the space in front of her. Her chin touches her chest as she looks down at her feet planted on the floor.

“Yes,” Korra says after a beat, “I think I understand why my manager selected first class now. She knows I can’t sit still. I’ve tried meditating like  _ six  _ times now but it never works. My trainor, Tenzin, says it’s what’s keeping me from reaching my ‘true potential,’ or something corny like that,” She thinks for a moment, “Actually, I don’t think that applies to this situation. I may have just dropped more onto you than you asked for. Sorry.”

“I don’t mind,” Asami says, closing her book. She would much rather talk to Korra anyway, “What’s holding you back from meditating?”

“In all honesty?” Korra says sheepishly, “I just find it boring. Tenzin says it’s supposed to  _ connect me to my soul _ , or something ridiculous like that, but I just don’t feel it.”

“Maybe you just haven’t found the right environment. Or the right headspace,” Asami suggests, “That can make all the world of difference.”

“I suppose,” Korra agrees, “What about you? Got anything holding you back?”

“Oh…” Asami gulps, looking down at her hands in her lap. She hadn’t expected the focus to get shifted onto her, “Maybe…”

“You don’t have to share,” Korra says, sitting up in her seat, “Let’s try meditating together. Maybe you’ll inspire me.” 

Asami giggles when Korra crosses her legs in her seat, placing her hands on either of her knees and closing her eyes, taking a deep breath. She offers a hand over to Asami, peeking at her playfully and nodding to her hand. Asami rolls her eyes and kicks her shoes off, bringing her legs up underneath her and finding a comfortable position to settle in. 

She accepts Korra’s hand, and the two close their eyes together.

“You’re supposed to, like, follow your breath as it moves through your body. Tenzin tells me to imagine it moving down to my stomach and coming back up as I breath out.”

“Tenzin sounds like a weirdo,” Asami mumbles, “Just breathe and you’ll be okay.”

“...I should probably turn off the death metal, huh?”

-

When Asami opens her eyes sometime later, she looks over to Korra and finds that she has fallen asleep. Their hands are still together and her legs are still crossed beneath her, but her head has fallen off to the side and rests gently against the window. Her mouth hangs open slightly, and her chest moves slower than normal. Asami has to fight to contain her laughter.

_ Well, at least she was relaxed. _

-

Turbulence wakes Korra an hour later. Asami is working on a crossword she found in the pocket of the chair in front of her. Korra yawns and stretches, leaning close to get a look at the word Asami is stuck on:

_ A manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth; an incarnate divine teacher. _

“Avatar,” She says through a yawn. Asami checks the spaces, then fills in the word.

“Nice,” Asami nods, flicking her pencil against the side of the booklet. She starts scribbling along the edge as she reads the next clue out of pure necessity for movement.

“Careful, Asami,” Korra teases, “You’re starting to show symptoms of distracted Korra behavior.”

“Oh, hush,” Asami rolls her eyes and leans back, dropping the book in her lap dramatically, “This flight feels longer than I remember.”

“Do you travel to Ba Sing Se often?”

“Sometimes, for business,” She explains, “The queen and I have a longstanding agreement.”

“You know the queen? That’s cool,” Korra sighs, “Is she nice?”

“Not really, no.”

“I get the feeling you deal with a lot of mean rich people,” Korra says, “The woman that owns the team is a  _ real  _ bitch, so I understand.”

“Kuvira?” Asami asks, “Oh, I know her. She tried to buy a branch of my business.”

“All she cares about is expansion and money,” Korra shakes her head, “Do you know she tried to cut our pay? The coach threatened a lawsuit and she backed off, but she tried. To take for herself, probably.”

“Probably.”

“ _ Probably… _ ” Korra says, blowing out a raspberry as she slouches over.

“Do you want to get coffee when we land?” Asami asks suddenly. The thought of never seeing Korra again after the past several hours they’ve spent sitting beside each other doesn’t sound super appealing. She can’t think of a single person currently in her life whose company she enjoys quite as much as Korra’s, and they just met. She would hate to lose that.

“Y-Yeah!” Korra says, perking up significantly, “Sure.”

They smile.

Asami’s heart does a flip.

-

The plane lands a half hour later.

Korra throws a peace sign in the air directed towards the other first class patrons as they deplane, several giving her strange looks. Asami doesn’t hesitate in joining her.

They get their luggage and walk out into the airport, taking a stroll through their options before settling on a diner-esque restaurant for some coffee and muffins. It goes by far too quickly for Asami’s taste. Before she even has time to blink, they’re swapping numbers and going their separate ways.

Of course, they make plans to meet up once they both return to Republic City. Asami can barely wait.

The more time Asami spends with Korra, the more her heart opens up to her. The connection she feels with her is sudden and scary, but Asami wouldn’t give it up for anything. There are so many things that she’s learning, and so many things that she  _ wants  _ to learn, and so many opportunities her mind is opening up to, and—

Well, lots of things.

Korra brings adventure, fun and craziness, but she also brings stabilization and normalcy. For the first time in Asami’s life, she isn’t just the  _ CEO _ , or  _ that rich girl who owns that company _ , or  _ the daughter of that guy that invented the Satomobile _ . She can just be  _ Asami _ .

With Korra, possibilities feel endless.


End file.
